1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio station tuning system enabling automatic tuning of a radio receiver to a desired radio station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is known a radio receiver which is installed in a vehicle or the like, includes a memory for storing frequencies of locally receivable radio stations, and which is tuned to a desired radio station on the basis of the stored data.
It is conceivable to automatically tune such a radio receiver to a radio station offering programs of specific genres. However, a driver or listener cannot know of the presence of a local radio station offering programs of a desired kind until the listener has searched for it in an area where the vehicle is running. Thus, the foregoing radio receiver is disadvantageous in this respect.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-112,855 has proposed a radio station identifying apparatus. In this apparatus, when a vehicles travels from one area to another area having a different name, a new area name is entered. Thus, frequencies of radio stations are separately read from a data memory in accordance with kinds of programs. Then, indicators which correspond to respective kinds of programs are selectively operated. This enables the listener to know, at a glance, radio stations offering particular kinds of programs which are present in the area. Further, the radio receiver will be tuned to a desired radio station by inputting an area name.
In many countries, most radio stations usually offer different programs on an hourly basis, and a few radio stations offer programs of specific kinds all day long. Therefore, there is a problem in such countries that listeners sometimes cannot listen to programs of a specific kind via the radio receiver of the prior art.
At present, the radio receiver is essentially unidirectional (i.e. it only receives programs from radio stations). For instance, there may be another problem that the listener may be tired of listening to an ordinary program when they encounter traffic congestion and remain tuned to a particular radio station.